A great article about Agile adoption at Farm Credit Services of America, and why the people who still don’t do Agile don’t do Agile.
http://www.cio.com/article/109751
Here’s the bit I really like:
The Standish Group, which famously compiles its Chaos data on software project failures, reported in its 2006 research that just 16 percent of waterfall projects succeeded as opposed to 41 percent of agile projects. Standish Group Chairman Jim Johnson, who has been studying project failures for years, says it “boggles” his mind why companies still resist agile development. “To say that companies or CIOs are reluctant to embrace agile is like saying they wouldn’t take aspirin for a headache,” he says. “And they’re not only not taking the aspirin, they’re banging their heads against the wall and wondering why it hurts.”
Liz Keogh, lunivore 
just 16 percent of waterfall projects succeeded as opposed to 41 percent of agile projects.
Although I applaud the relative success of agile projects, 41% success is utterly tragic, what does this say about our industry?
(I haven’t read the article)
Well, the Agile Alliance reckon it’s more like 80/90%, can’t remember exactly. But they’re biased. 😛
Perhaps many of the projects that fail are ones that shouldn’t have been kicked off in the first place. Sometimes lack of will to continue by the business is not a result of poor execution, but of gradual realization that the project is a waste of money…